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Ravel Morrison has admitted it upsets him to hear Wayne Rooney suggest he could have done more with his career, but accepted it was true.

The midfielder started his career with Man Utd in the same youth side that produced some current Red Devils stars, and was regarded as one of the finest talents at the club.

Rooney said in his Sunday Times column this week: "I saw Paul Pogba come through, Jesse Lingard, all these players and Ravel was better than any of them by a country mile."

But Morrison struggled to adapt to life as a professional, and kept a lifestyle not befitting with that of his peers, eventually losing the patience of manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Morrison (R) came through the same youth team as Pogba and Lingard (Image: Man Utd via Getty Images)

Now plying his trade at Middlesbrough - on loan from Sheffield United - the 27-year-old is considered among the best of many stars to have never fulfilled their potential.

And the player himself opened up on his regrets of not achieving more at this stage of his career.

Discussing Rooney's column, Morrison told talkSPORT : "Obviously amazing comments. Especially for the player that he is, he's probably one of the best to come out of England, so it's high comments from a high player.

"It makes you a bit upset that I could have gone a bit further. I should have gone a bit further. I'm hoping still to go a bit further. But to the likes of Pogba and Jesse; I think both great players. I think we had a great team, [born] around the 92s and 93s, that era of our year.

"I knew I had ability, but I didn't realise and understand... obviously these are high players and I didn't understand their thoughts at the time. I used to just go there and love playing football."

Jamie Redknapp revealed on Sky Sports that Ferguson had hailed Morrison as "the most talented player he’s ever worked with".

Morrison is now playing on loan at Middlesbrough (Image: Getty Images)

Morrison had experienced a difficult upbringing in his home town of Wythenshawe, and revealed that he saw football as a form of "escapism".

But he sadly failed to hit the heights expected of him, and was eventually sold to West Ham in 2012, before following a journeyman-like career since.

He added: "I wouldn't say I struggled with pressure because I didn't really feel pressure. Maybe some things in my life, when I was young, now I would sit there and not do things or go a different path and stuff like that.

"Going into Manchester United was a nice environment to go into every day, world-class players, just enjoyable. If I could go back through my life again there would be a lot of things I'd change.

"I grew up at United, I was there from the Under-9s. I'd skip training some days, and I would wake up and don't know why I'd done it, but I'd skip it. And it's hard to get me off the training field now."